Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott have been ruled out of Arsenal's match at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, although both players have returned to light training and they hope to be available for the following Saturday's visit of Norwich City.

Walcott injured his groin on England duty and missed last Saturday's 4-1 home win over Reading, while Wilshere has not played since the 2-1 derby defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on 3 March.

Arsène Wenger said Wilshere needed a period of rest to guard against bone-bruising in his left foot developing into a stress fracture. The manager and player are understandably cautious after that injury previously happened in the right foot, to devastating effect.

Wenger initially hoped Wilshere would be fit for Reading but, such is the caution relating to the 21-year-old, Arsenal have given him extra recovery time to ensure he is 100% before returning to action.

However, Arsenal's injury list is encouragingly short, with Nacho Monreal fit after his collision with a goalpost against Reading, and the team will travel to West Bromwich on a run of three successive wins.

"We have good news with both Jack and Theo," said Steve Bould, the assistant manager. "They are outside running, and have an outside chance of being involved against Norwich.

"Nacho has recovered well from his knee problem from the impact of the post and has trained the last couple of days, so he is available for the weekend. We have just Ryo [Miyaichi] and Abou [Diaby] out for the long term, so things are looking good in terms of availability."